Victoria Gotcheva is a Research Assistant at the BAM! Lab and is a third-year undergraduate student at the University of Toronto. She is enrolled in the linguistics specialist program and is working towards an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree. Victoria’s interest in speech and language development in bilingual and multilingual populations stems from her background speaking and learning many languages; Victoria was raised in an English-Bulgarian household, gained fluency in French through the French Immersion program, and received additional formal instruction in German and Russian. At the lab, Victoria is currently assisting with data management for the Wordle study and participant recruitment for the bilingual language history tool project. She is also on the team for the scoping review of community-based participatory research with bilingual populations. Previously, Victoria helped out with testing adult participants for a pupillometric study of attentional effort during linguistic and nonlinguistic processing in monolinguals and bilinguals and with extracting data for a narrative review on language and cognition in atypically-developing bilingual children. Beyond her academic pursuits, Victoria enjoys playing the piano and singing.

Maripaz González Pieschacón is a Research Assistant at the BAM! lab, responsible for coordinating Knowledge Mobilization/Translation efforts. She attends the University of Toronto Mississauga, pursuing a Bachelor of Science, majoring in Psychology and Biology for Health Sciences, with a minor in Art History. Her coursework includes PSY401: Knowledge Translation, sparking her interest in delivering scientific discoveries to real-world settings. Maripaz's research focuses on bilingual development, stemming from her own experience of arriving in Canada as a baby and learning English in kindergarten. She is passionate about Dr. Molnar’s work on making research accessible and is interested in literacy, having volunteered as a tutor for United for Literacy. Previously, she worked as a research assistant in the Child Language and Speech Studies Lab with Dr. Elizabeth Johnson, where she developed a model for engaging both children and adults in scientific learning. Fluent in Spanish and English, Maripaz is helping our lab create outreach tools to share our research with the public. Her long-term goal is to work in knowledge translation within medicine, aspiring to become a nurse who empowers patients by helping them understand their health. Outside of her academic life, Maripaz enjoys photography, writing, and sharing her latest lessons with friends and family.

Tristan McKnight is a Research Assistant at the Bilingual and Multilingual Development Lab at the University of Toronto. She is currently in her first year of the MHSc in Speech-Language Pathology program, having completed a B.A. Specialist in Linguistics at UofT Scarborough. Tristan’s research interests focus on equitable assessment and intervention for bilingual and multilingual children. She brings prior experience as the Lab Manager for the Eyelands Lab under Dr. Dave Kush, and as a Research Assistant for Dr. Atiqa Hachimi and Dr. Safieh Moghaddam, all at UofT Scarborough. Fluent in English and at an intermediate level in French, Tristan currently assists with the development of a clinically informed, quasi-linguistically universal dynamic assessment of early word reading skills for bilingual kindergarten students. Looking ahead, she hopes to practice as an SLP upon graduation and the completion of the CETP exam. Outside of her academic work, Tristan enjoys camping and cooking.

Tosin is a Research Assistant at the Bilingual and Multilingual Development Lab(Bam!To) assisting with social media outreach and knowledge translation efforts! Tosin is in the third year of his undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto and is pursuing a double major in Human Biology and Psychology along with a minor in english. As someone who grew up in a household, that spoke English, Igbo, and Yoruba, Tosin always wondered about cognitive and social aspects of multilingualism. Particularly how early language exposure influences social development in children. After completing his undergraduate degree, Tosin hopes to pursue a career in psychiatry and to further understand how individual differences such as race, ethnicity, language, poverty, immigration and exposure to adverse events impact children and their developement. Outside of academic and lab work, you may find Tosin on Tiktok, drawing, practicing his Igbo or enjoying walks with his dog!